The Trump administration on Dec. 4 extended a waiver that lets Lukoil-branded gas stations abroad stay in business, softening elements of the sanctions imposed on the firm in October.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR, said its drones hit a Russian Su-24 tactical bomber as past of a series of eight "accurate strikes" on military targets inside Russian-occupied Crimea on Dec. 5.

The Prosecutor General's Office said that the wounded soldier tried to take cover, but the Russian soldier "finished him off with a shot from an assault rifle."

Editor’s note: To mark the fourth birthday of the Kyiv Independent, the War Notes newsletter team decided to pass one edition of the newsletter to a special guest writer, who could capture the time and place we are at in Russia's war against Ukraine from a new perspective. You can subscribe to War Notes and the Kyiv Independent’s other newsletters here. About the author: Dimko Zhluktenko is a drone operator in Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces and co-founder of military aid volunteer organizati

Editor's note: This article is a shortened on-site version of KI Insights' public newsletter, The Week Ahead, covering events from December 8-14. Sign up here to start your week with an agenda of Ukraine-related events delivered directly to your inbox every week. The European Union is pressing ahead with efforts to secure a reparations loan backed by frozen Russian assets. Today, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz are holding an emergency

Ukrainska Pravda, citing law enforcement sources, reported that Anna Skorokhod, a lawmaker from the For the Future party, is suspected of taking a large bribe.

As U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner takes on a more active role in the latest peace push, Ukrainian officials say they are cautiously optimistic about his involvement. Kushner joined U.S.-Ukraine negotiations in Geneva on Nov. 23 and in Florida on Nov. 30, and then traveled to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Dec. 2. "The very fact that Trump added Kushner is a good sign," Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee

A group of Ukrainian children ages 2 to 17 returned to Ukraine from Russian-occupied territories in southern Kherson Oblast, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Dec. 5.

European leaders privately insisted they alone should control decisions over immobilized Russian assets, even as the US reportedly lobbied European countries to block plans to lend the cash to Ukraine.

A fire caused damage to facilities at the Temryuk port in Krasnodar Krai, a major Russian hub and oil export terminal. Locals also reported explosions at the Syzran Oil Refinery in Samara Oblast.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia would continue supplying fuel to India's "rapidly growing economy," calling Moscow a reliable energy partner.

The More in Common survey shows strong international objections to key parts of the latest peace proposals being put forward by the White House.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn a stark new line in the war: Ukraine must withdraw its forces from the eastern Donbas region, or Moscow will seize it "by force," he warned on Dec. 4. The threat is hardly new — but the stakes are. President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out ceding territory. After a decade of trying and failing to take Donbas outright, the Kremlin is now tying any future ceasefire to Ukraine's capitulation on the region, raising the pressure as Moscow seeks to reshape

The document says that it is in the U.S. interest to "negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine" to enable the country's post-war recovery, stabilization of European economies, and to "reestablish strategic stability with Russia."

The visit comes amid a surge of diplomatic efforts after the U.S. backed a 28-point plan that many viewed as effectively pushing Ukraine toward capitulation in Russia's all-out war.

Football clubs are forced to pay outstanding transfer fees even if doing so runs the risk of violating banking restrictions and sanctions against Russia.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Dec. 4 fined New York-based property manager Gracetown Inc. more than $7 million for accepting payments linked to a company owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The discussion reflected growing concern in European capitals over Washington's posture as the latest peace push moves forward.

Irish outlet The Journal reported on Dec. 4 that four unidentified, “military-style” drones were seen breaching a no-fly zone near the expected flight path of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plane as it arrived in Ireland earlier in the week, according to unnamed security sources.

About the author: Gregory P. Wilson is a consultant, author, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Oct. 24 is not a memorable date, but it was an important moment for Ukraine in the United States. As the latest round of so-called “peace” negotiations flounders due to Russia’s intransigence, Kyiv is facing a significant financing gap to bolster its economy and defend its land from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal aggression and nightly terror ca

The Kyiv Appeals Court ordered on Dec. 3 the release of Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, a detective with Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), who had been investigating the country's largest corruption case involving the state-run nuclear power monopoly Energoatom.

Ukraine’s lethal and non-lethal military equipment procurement agencies will merge into one under the Defense Ministry from Jan. 1, going against NATO’s recommendations last year and raising eyebrows among anti-corruption activists.

Ukrainians say that Belgium's Prime Minister Bart de Wever holds the key to Russia's defeat, after he said that Russia's loss in Ukraine was a "total illusion." De Wever was speaking in an interview with Belgian newspaper La Libre on Dec. 2, the day before the European Commission announced a "reparations loan," a plan that could lend up to 210 billion euros in immobilized Russian central bank reserves to Kyiv. "But who really believes that Russia will lose in Ukraine? It's a fairy tale, a tota

Seven more Ukrainian children taken to Russia have been returned to their families, U.S. first lady Melania Trump said.

Successful strikes by Ukraine's military intelligence agency destroyed a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet and an Irtysh radar system in Russian-occupied Crimea, the agency said.

The visit comes as Cyprus is about to take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in January, with Nicosia viewing enlargement as a "key priority," a Cypriot government spokesperson said.

The closure came after several days of sustained attacks by drones and artillery, targeting the halls and equipment of the plant, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

Dan Driscoll, the U.S. army secretary known as an ardent advocate of military modernization, was thrust into an unexpected role as Washington's leading negotiator in Ukraine. His trip to Kyiv last month, which was expected to focus on technology cooperation, instead saw him present Ukraine with a U.S.-Russia-drafted peace plan that imposed punishing conditions on Kyiv. Despite having no prior diplomatic experience, the 39-year-old Pentagon official remains a key figure in the ongoing talks as

Hello, this is Tania Myronyshena reporting from Kyiv on day 1,380 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today's top story so far: Ukraine's Armed Forces struck more than 50 fuel and military-industrial infrastructure sites in Russia over the course of this autumn, marking an unprecedented rate of successful attacks, according to Ukraine's General Staff and experts cited by Schemes, an investigative project by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Using satellite imagery from Planet Labs, jou

According to the military, the man refused to present his documents, acted aggressively, and eventually stabbed the officer in the groin, causing a critical bleed.

Russia, Belarus and Iran have voted against the resolution. Fifty-seven countries, including China, India and Brazil, abstained from voting.

Russia has centralized volunteer drone units like Rubikon into a professional system that is eroding Ukraine’s early edge in UAV warfare and threatening its front lines.